second job

There has undeniably been a huge increase, across all professions, of people taking a second job or finding an extra source of income by ‘moonlighting’ in a role that may or may not be related to their main job – usually because they need the extra income but sometimes to ‘feed’ other interests that their main job doesn’t fulfil.

Research from The Independent this summer found that almost 100,000 more people have had to take second jobs in the past year, taking the total number to 1.1 million in the first quarter of this year – the highest total since 2002. The number of hours worked in second jobs has also gone up, to an average of just under 10 a week.

The Independent’s research also found that many companies are happy to take on staff working relatively short hours to help meet their business needs, rather than having to take on a more expensive full-time or part-time employee.

We look at what this means in terms of the Working Time Regulations, Contractual requirements of your main job, Moonlighting while on long-term sick leave, Tax and benefit implications here.

It’s not unknown for employees on long-term sick leave try to supplement their sick pay with additional income from another job.  Employers may naturally assume they can discipline or dismiss an employee who does this on the basis of the employee’s dishonesty. However, your employer will need to determine whether, that while your illness may have a genuine effect on the job you do for them it may not prevent you from performing other, different, work.